1. Field of the Invention
The invention is directed to a plate-shaped valve arrangement including a base plate element and a valve element, the valve arrangement is insertable in a plug-in valve unit configured for receiving plural ones of the plate-shaped valve arrangement.
2. Description of the Related Art
A prior art plate-shaped valve arrangement is disclosed in the brochure titled "V15 Valve Units" by Rexroth Mecman GmbH (Document No. 8858903103, Printing Date April 1998). The pneumatic plate-shaped valve arrangement essentially comprises a valve element and a baseplate element. The valve element operates as a switching element for pressure medium flows and cooperates with a baseplate element containing pressure medium channels S, P, R, A, B. At two surfaces located opposite one another in the direction of flow, the valve element has corresponding pressure medium connections S, P, R and A, B, respectively. A position of a valve slide is movable between the pressure medium connections so as to selectively convey a pressure medium. For this purpose, the valve slide is moved via a valve drive in the form of an electropneumatic pilot valve which is freely accessible from the outside. The baseplate element has a U-shaped recess in which the valve element is inserted and locked. In this way, the pressure medium connections S, P, R, and A, B, respectively, of the valve element are aligned flush with the pressure medium connections S, P, R, A, B in the baseplate element by displacement along the surface. Pressure medium connections A, B for connecting working lines are provided externally on the baseplate element. The pressure medium channels S, P, R open into pressure medium channel portions which are arranged perpendicular to the base plate element.
The valve arrangement has a plate-like or disk-shaped configuration, wherein opposite connection surfaces allow a plurality of valve arrangements to be arranged in a row to form a valve unit. In this way, the individual pressure medium channel portions S, P, R combine to form common pressure medium channels S, P, R for all of the valve arrangements. The valve unit formed in this way may be fastened, for example, to a top hat rail by snap fasteners. Each individual valve drive has two electrical contact lugs for purposes of electrical connection to a controller. The individual valve drives are to be wired via corresponding plug-in contacts. The resulting laborious wiring disadvantageously increases assembly time of the valve unit. Furthermore, it is possible for the valve drives to be incorrectly wired. The external electrical lines do not conform to the trend toward the most compact possible construction.